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Listen to a podcast series by atlamd
There are other dpc docs on this forum too
There are other dpc docs on this forum too
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The physicians I know who went concierge all share the following: 1) are in a wealthy area; 2) built a strong reputation over 5-10 years before doing so; 3) still bill insurance but charge a yearly 'service fee' in order to be a patient. My understanding is that pure cash pay is rare except for specialty psychiatry because even wealthy people don't want to pay for healthcare. Also, all these guys are internists. I'm not sure how a cash-pay orthopod or surgeon would work.
Honestly though, all specialties make a decent living and the pressures of the job are not unique to medicine. You will deal with a lot more crap than just insurance when it comes to being a physician. Patient care in and of itself requires sacrifice.
Honestly though, all specialties make a decent living and the pressures of the job are not unique to medicine. You will deal with a lot more crap than just insurance when it comes to being a physician. Patient care in and of itself requires sacrifice.
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If you have a good fall back plan anything is possible. You should focus on some business classes while in undergrad. Do not go into medical school interviews saying you want to do concierge medicine. You will be rejected.
Much of derm, psych and plastics are concierge cash care. All of regenerative medicine procedures are cash.
Most docs can't charge membership fees and take insurance because of insurance contracts.
Be a doctor if you want to be one. Don't do it to be rich. You won't in this field unless you are already wealthy, able to own a home during med school and residency and pay off your loans during residency. All of that requires some money before med school. Hopefully, you get a low cost undergrad education, too.
Much of derm, psych and plastics are concierge cash care. All of regenerative medicine procedures are cash.
Most docs can't charge membership fees and take insurance because of insurance contracts.
Be a doctor if you want to be one. Don't do it to be rich. You won't in this field unless you are already wealthy, able to own a home during med school and residency and pay off your loans during residency. All of that requires some money before med school. Hopefully, you get a low cost undergrad education, too.
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So first we need to differentiate whether you actually want to do "Concierge" or whether you just want to do "insurance free" because they are two very separate methods of practice.
Concierge generally requires a wealthy subset of patients. It comes in 2 flavors. The most common, like with MDVIP, is a yearly "Access Fee" that covers longer office visits, enhanced communication with the doctor (text, e-mail, whatever). Those doctors still bill insurance just like everyone else, they just see fewer patients/day and still make good money because of that Access Fee. The other type is no insurance but usually a higher rate (MDVIP for instance is around $2000/year while insurance-free concierge is most like $5000 and above/year). No insurance is required for that, but the significantly higher access fee makes it harder to attract patients.
Insurance free is very simple and comes in 2 forms as well. You can do regular fee-for-service, meaning patients pay you every time they come in. Your fee is usually lower than insurance-based offices since you need less staff to do it. Its amenable to walk ins and urgent care but you still have to have pretty good volume to make a living.
Subscription based is what I do. Patients pay a monthly membership fee (mine is $50/month) which gives them unlimited office visits, my personal e-mail/cell phone number, in office procedures, and certain injection medications. Its kinda like the more expensive type of concierge but much more affordable so you have a much larger pool of patients to draw from. The nice thing is that since patients pay whether or not they need you every month, most of my days aren't too busy. The most patients I've seen in a day since I opened was 12, and most days its around 6-8.
Concierge generally requires a wealthy subset of patients. It comes in 2 flavors. The most common, like with MDVIP, is a yearly "Access Fee" that covers longer office visits, enhanced communication with the doctor (text, e-mail, whatever). Those doctors still bill insurance just like everyone else, they just see fewer patients/day and still make good money because of that Access Fee. The other type is no insurance but usually a higher rate (MDVIP for instance is around $2000/year while insurance-free concierge is most like $5000 and above/year). No insurance is required for that, but the significantly higher access fee makes it harder to attract patients.
Insurance free is very simple and comes in 2 forms as well. You can do regular fee-for-service, meaning patients pay you every time they come in. Your fee is usually lower than insurance-based offices since you need less staff to do it. Its amenable to walk ins and urgent care but you still have to have pretty good volume to make a living.
Subscription based is what I do. Patients pay a monthly membership fee (mine is $50/month) which gives them unlimited office visits, my personal e-mail/cell phone number, in office procedures, and certain injection medications. Its kinda like the more expensive type of concierge but much more affordable so you have a much larger pool of patients to draw from. The nice thing is that since patients pay whether or not they need you every month, most of my days aren't too busy. The most patients I've seen in a day since I opened was 12, and most days its around 6-8.
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